Blindsight (Firefall, #1)

by Peter Watts

“You know what they say about the road less traveled? Well, you carved your own road. I don’t know why. It’s like learning calligraphy using your toes, you know? Or proprioceptive polyneuropathy. It’s amazing you can do it at all; it’s mind-boggling that you actually got good at it.” I squinted at him. “Proprio—” “There used to be people without any sense of … well, of themselves, physically. They couldn’t feel their bodies in space, had no idea how their own limbs were arranged or even if they had limbs. Some of them said they felt pithed. Disembodied. They’d send a motor signal to the hand and just have to take it on faith that it arrived. So they’d use vision to compensate; they couldn’t feel where the hand was so they’d look at it while it moved, use sight as a substitute for the normal force-feedback you and I take for granted. They could walk, if they kept their eyes focused on their legs and concentrated on every step. They’d get pretty good at it. But even after years of practice, if you distracted them in mid-step they’d go over like a beanstalk without a counterweight.” “You’re saying I’m like that?” “You use your Chinese Room the way they used vision. You’ve reinvented empathy, almost from scratch, and in some ways—not all obvious, or I wouldn’t have to tell you this—but in some ways yours is better than the original. It’s why you’re so good at Synthesis.” I shook my head. “I just observe, that’s all. I watch what people do, and then I imagine what would make th...